| Theodore
"Dutch" Van Kirk born in 1921, is a former United States Army Air Corps
navigator who flew 58 B-17 Flying Fortress combat missions with the 97th
Bomb Group over Occupied France and Germany during World War II.
He is most famous as the navigator of the Enola Gay when it dropped the
first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The crew of the "Red Gremlin" also included pilot Paul Tibbets and Tom
Ferebee, bombardier. Theodore Van Kirk led these men, together with
Captain Tibbets on the Hiroshima mission. Tibbetts, Captain of the
“RED GREMLIN” flew many missions into Europe till the end of October 1942,
when Paul was chosen to help transport the allied military leaders and
planners of “Operation Torch”. Paul flew General Mark Clark, and
other diplomats to Gibraltar to set the stage for the up coming invasion
on North Africa by the Americans. Paul also flew General Dwight Eisenhower,
who sat on a wooden two by four in the cockpit in-between Paul and the
co-pilot.
Paul’s B-17, was eventually named the “RED GREMLIN”. Even
though Paul did not fly this aircraft on his first mission into Europe,
he flew the “Red Gremlin” on the majority of his missions. The tough
Red flew faithfully for him and his crew, even when fighter or flak damaged
the Superfortress. The B-17 Red Gremlin also took Paul on his diplomatic
trips to Gibraltar and on into Algiers. Paul finished the war as
commanding officer of the 509th Composite Group. This secret squadron
was to be the first Nuclear Strike Force. Tibbets led the first attack
on German occupied Europe that eventually led to the demise of Hitler’s
war machine. Tibbets was then to fly the mission that would end the
war with Japan. |
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All airplane models are Hand Carved, Hand Painted
Mahogany and comes fully assembled with removable desk stand. |